Nigella
by banana19
Summary: Perplexity, poison; love is neither safe or tame. A woman somehow winds up in the Leaky Cauldron to find a murder scene. How did she get there? Is she a Muggle or is there something more to her? Set years after book 7. Pretty original.
1. Chapter 1

I met him while I was in the service, traveling from country to country like the mindless lemming I was broken down, and trained to be. At the time I was working the sterile position of aeronautic administrator, filling out orders and running paperwork for a helicopter crew, a glorified secretary. I went where the crew went though, assisting them on missions and such; I'd like to call that a perk but in all reality it meant nothing but playing babysitter for a crew of half grown man-children in a strange, new country.

For the record, I have been everywhere; that is not an exaggeration by any standards. Where the navy hasn't sent me I've gone by myself, just to see what it was like. You see, I came to the conclusion that America wasn't at all its cracked up to be years ago, and when I joined the service I promised myself that I would spend my time in scouring the world for a more suitable home-base; while at the same time getting my degree and saving up all the money I could. I would like to think that I was successful at that, but what constitutes a success, anyway?

I was born in Richmond, Virginia though I don't remember it all that well. My mother was always moving us around and going from husband to husband like it was nothing at all. I never had a dad, not that I know of at least. By the time I was eighteen I'd been through 6 marriages, five divorces, and one funeral. We put John in the ground on my birthday actually.

I spent that entire day enduring my mothers faux sobs and the vast array of drunken strangers who felt the urge to point out how little I looked I like my mother, and every so often had to correct someone when they thought I was related to them, the deceased, or the help; as high society assholes so lovingly call them. I was never as beautiful as my mother, who's come hither look could draw not just a crowd, but a crowd of devout mute monks. Yeah; it was like that.

I'm about five foot eight with thick, wavy dark hair that reaches to about the middle spot between my shoulder blades, though I rarely have it down. My eyes are blue/green with little speckles of yellow around the middle of my right eye that made them look like two different colors when you look deeply into them. My nose is a small decline that eases into a cute little button that I like to think complements my oval shaped face rather nicely. I pity extravagantly beautiful women like my mother because their beauty winds up becoming a curse in the long run. Don't get me wrong, by no means am I ugly; just . . . not terribly extraordinary. At twenty four years old

I look like I'm eighteen years old but I'm used to it now; I've always looked a lot younger than I really am. In fact it's a biological gift that has gotten me out of a lot of trouble in my day; then again it's also gotten me into a lot of trouble too. After John's funeral my mother started to get into some dark voodoo crazy stuff so I decided that was my que to leave.

Not wanting a confrontation (or a hex put on me) I collected as much stuff as I could into a duffle bag and a cardboard box and caught the first flight out to New York to stay with my mom's first husband Nigel. It probably sounds weird to someone who doesn't know what my childhood was like but because I didn't have a dad and I've never met my Grandparents Nigel was the first male influence that I had ever had before. Even after the divorce he and I kept in touch and he even made arrangements so that I could spend bits and pieces of my summers with him. I finished the last few months of high school in New York and couldn't decide what to do with myself. After another six months of work I became fed up and joined the military (this is where the Navy comes in).

I took a short vacation back home, went to San Francisco, and left for boot camp; eighteen weeks of hell (cant forget A-school!) later, I was worked out, toned up, respectful, respectable, and actually doing something with myself. . . the fact that every penny put into my bank account was for the most part spending money didn't hurt, either. To my personal delight I was stationed on a little base in Greece, not that it particularly mattered; my crew and I were always here, there, and every where. One specific trip landed us in the suburbs outside of London; I never knew much about the missions that we were sent on so I pretty much just organized hotel rooms, food, and supplies and such.

When I finished all my work for the day I was allowed to wander and do as I pleased; almost like a pseudo vacation of sorts. Well, shortly before I joined the service I made a pact in jest with my friend John that if I ever had the chance to roam England freely I would make it a point to search for the real Harry Potter. I know its just a book, John always made fun of me for reading them as vehemently as I did when I was a kid, so he gave me six years to find Harry as a joke to prove to me how stupid my obsession with the fictional story had been. Well, with nothing better to do but wander I decided to take him up on his little offer, all the while seeing the sights and getting better bearings in the city should I ever choose to go back there. I finished my paperwork for the day and changed into my civilian gear so I wouldn't freak any of the natives out.

I wandered into and out of shops and stopped for fish and chips at a small, questionable looking stand. I began to wander aimlessly, with no set direction; to be honest I wasn't even paying attention until I realized I was no longer in the busy heart of London where I had been what felt like mere moments ago. The buildings were smaller, dirtier, and in a more urgent state of disarray. While there were still many people on the sidewalks they walked quickly, I sensed fear in them as they strode past me. I, myself had an odd feeling but ignored it as I took notice of an especially run down building; I choked on my fish and chips as I read the sign that held the businesses name.

Sure enough 'The Leaky Cauldron' stood worn and faded as it hung loosely from two chains above the entrance. I got chills as I stared down the building, silently willing it to disappear while at the same time praying to what ever god that happened to be listening at the time for it to be real; the military tends to look down upon paranoid schizophrenics these days. What I found especially odd about the scene before me was the fact that no one seemed to be entering the building, or even looking at it for that matter; I began to get the feeling that the place really didn't exist, and I should have stopped at a more reputable establishment for lunch. Surely I was coming down with a deathly case of food poisoning… or maybe mad cow disease, they still have that in England don't they? Maybe the stand's owner just dropped his lsd in the fish batter . . . a girl can dream, right!?

Just as I was considering turning myself in for temporary insanity the door opened with a loud creak and a man in a traveling cloak stepped out into the morning light, causing a young woman to scream in fear and run the rest of the way down the now almost barren street. That woman had seen what I had, so I couldn't be crazy! This must be one of those shops that opened because of the popularity of the story! Joyously, I made my way across the street and almost made it to the door's handle before a very odd sensation came over me; one of fear, excitement, and something I hadn't felt in quite a while: danger. I took my hand from the handle and made a quick check of my person.

Like always, my pistol was safely in the inside breast pocket of my pea coat hovering protectively in front of my heart; very against military procedure but at the same time it laid my mind to rest while I wandered strange cities on my own at odd hours of the day. With more confidence than I had begun my newest mission with, I quietly opened the door and stepped over the thresh-hold, and immediately I wished that I hadn't. The place looked exactly like I imagined it would, whoever designed it did a better job than the set designers for the movies, I'll tell you that. There were dusty bottles of fire whiskey everywhere, and I got the impression there were more cobwebs in the place than wallpaper and paint.

There were over turned tables and shattered glass everywhere, a woman was sprawled out in the middle of the floor weeping over a corpse that I assumed to be her lover or husband. All the pub's other customers were loosely encircling her, some mumbling condolences, others simply drinking in the scene like water. No one seemed nearly as emotional or surprised as the woman shrieking from the floor, though; not until I lost my grip on the door and it slammed behind me, that is.


	2. Chapter 2

In an instant every person in the pub was facing me, and suddenly seven wands of assorted shapes and sizes were pointed directly at my heart. Without thinking I drew my gun, and we stood there in a grueling and tension filled stand off until one of the men put his wand down. "Bloody fucking hell woman! How did ye GET IN HERE!?"

My gaze and aim was unwavering, though. Without a side glance in his direction I replied "I saw the building, and thought I might stop in for a pint, if you don't mind. With circumstances being what they are though I'm going to ask you gentlemen to put your wands down, I'll be happy to have the police down here, I'm United States Navy, myself." At that everyone's wands dropped to their sides, and the same man who had accosted me before took it upon himself to question me. "But, but . . . you're a muggle!? How did you find this place?"

"Now, now, sir. There's been a murder here, I think its time to put an end to the act, and drop character. What are your names?" "With all due respect, miss; I think its you who ought to answer some questions to us" "and just why would that be, sir?" Before he could answer me a back door flew open and seven or eight men filed in and began taking each person aside, for questioning I suppose. To my own surprise they weren't wearing the traditional uniforms of English constables; instead they each donned a dark blue robe with a golden pin above each of their hearts. I cleverly put my gun back into its secured spot; if I was to be found, on duty, out of uniform, and waving a pistol around I was sure to hear it from the chain of command.

This was bad, very bad, no matter how I looked at it. I looked over to the poor woman who had only just then stopped wailing. She was in a corner with one of the men in blue, still sobbing but ultimately a grand scale calmer than she had been a few moments before. She embraced the man tightly, and when they pulled away from each other made a motion towards me with her head. Confused, the man turned to look at me, his mouth dropped much the same way the original man's had, and he slowly began to make his way across the room towards me.

I straightened out into a relaxed attention, and surveyed the stranger as he stared at me intently. He was tall, about six foot two, a bit skinny for someone so tall but ultimately muscular. Shaggy, black hair framed his strong features, which were tainted with the odd wrinkle or stress line. He couldn't be more than thirty five but the lines on his face spoke volumes; this man had seen a lot in his years. I almost pitied him before I realized that I had those same lines from many years of hard work and a non existent childhood; I did it to myself.

Before I knew it he was standing in front of me burning holes into my forehead with his gaze; I returned it and took notice of the strange color of his almond shaped eyes, bright green, like an electrified emerald looked into my murky blue/green ones. All I wanted was to leave in that instant, whatever was going on here was definitely something that I wanted nothing to do with. The way everyone in the room seemed to be looking at me now did nothing to ease the feeling, either. The man had an odd look on his face, almost as if he wasn't quite sure what to do or say. "M-miss, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me to the minis… I mean to headquarters for further questioning."

"As much as I would love to cooperate with you, sir I have to be heading back to my hotel room. All I can account for you is that I was walking down the street, saw the building, decided to stop in for a drink, and upon entering was startled with the sight you beheld yourself when you got here." I pointed to the men who had held me at, well, wand point. "Those gentlemen were kind enough as to point their makeshift wands at me until you finally managed to get here, that is my statement, feel free to write it down, if you have any further questions, comments, or concerns please contact my commanding officer." I reached into my pocket to hand him a business card when he wrapped his hand gently around my forearm and led me to a more secluded area of the now crowded bar. I looked ahead and took notice of a staircase leading to a second floor. Funny, I thought; there didn't seem to be a second floor to the building when I had seen it from the outside. Come to think of it, there hadn't been space for a back door, either.

The man, who I had only just deemed good looking looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one, could hear him before lowering his voice to a whisper. "I don't think that you understand, miss. Non magical people aren't supposed to be able to see the leaky cauldron, much less enter it, so either you're a spy, or the shield has gone down and anyone can enter our world freely.

Tell me, is it not suspicious for a murder to take place mere moments before a muggle. . . excuse me, non magical person comes traipsing through the doors of the scene of the crime?". I almost laughed in his face before I realized how serious this all was; someone had just been killed here and this idiot was going on about magic, and force fields. What was wrong with these people?


	3. Chapter 3

The good looking stranger seemed to be searching for something in my eyes, because he wouldn't stop staring at me. Eventually I became so fed up with the situation that I simply couldn't take the treatment anymore, in a huff I proceeded to bellow "now that's enough! What sort of police officer do you make yourself out to be? There is a dead body in the middle of the floor and you idiots haven't done anything about it besides make a tea party of the whole ordeal and rant about magic, and force fields, and wands, and muggles!! If this is supposed to be one of those murder dinner theatres then count me out! If not then you people are delusional, living out of a J.K. Rowling novel, its pathetic!"

On that note I did a stiff about face and marched quickly towards the door. "Wait! I never said I was a police officer, miss. I'm sorry but you're coming with me whether I have to use force or not!" I had been waiting for this, to be truthful with you, I don't really need a gun to keep me protected, I have something much, much better hidden securely up my sleeve. I turned around to give the man a questioning glare, which matched perfectly with the cocky smirk his words had etched across my amused face; he stood just where I had left him , only now he was brandishing a beautiful, dark wand in his right hand, and it was pointed directly at me. Suddenly the mourning woman jumped up from the couch that she had crumpled onto.

"Harry, don't!" She was too late, the man, or should I say, Harry had already bellowed "stupefy!" to my utter surprise a beam of bright red light shot from his wand towards me. 'Damn, either they have some good effects people working this or all of this is actually real' I thought to myself. Acting quickly I did the only thing that I could, I pushed with my mind and the red light did a complete 180 and hit its creator square in the chest.

He went down with the most amazing look of surprise on his face. Everyone in the room became suddenly aware of what had transpired and turned to stare at me once again. Everyone except the woman shot more beams of light at me, I can only assume that they were curses; repeating my former actions all of their originators landed on the ground, until it was just me and the suddenly very strong woman.

Very unsure of myself, I gathered as much courage as I could and grabbed a bottle of fire whiskey from behind the bar, along with two dirty looking glasses; I proceeded to wipe both of them off on my shirt and set them down on a recently righted table. Taking a seat, I poured both glasses and urged the woman to take a seat across from me, she hesitantly obliged, but not without making her wand very visible first.

"So tell me, is this the real thing, or just some makers in a done up bottle?" "I'd think that by now you would have realized that this" she gestured around the room with her arms "all of this is real." I nodded weakly and pushed a full glass in her direction, she shook her head. "No, I'm sorry but I don't drink, miss . . . im sorry, but I never caught your name. I don't think any of us did." "Oh just drink it, I think you might actually need it more than I do right about now. Names Florence, by the way; but you can call me chickie. And yours?"

The woman, who I had only just taken true notice of, had soft, but pointed features, along with frizzy, mousy brown hair that hung around her shoulders. Pieces of it were sopping wet from catching her tears, and her light brown eyes were swollen and bloodshot from crying. Even her voice was cracking from wailing for so long, I felt sorry for her, and wanted to ask of her relationship to the corpse in question but didn't, for fear of having to console her even further. I never was one for coddling. I downed my glass of fire whiskey and filled another glass while I waited on her reply.

"My names Hermione Weasley and that" she pointed to the dead man on the floor "would be my husband, Ron. But I suppose that you already know that if you read those dreadful books." She went to take a sip of her whiskey but began to choke when steam came from her ears, and nose. I had to stifle a laugh as I patted her back until she regained the ability to breathe again. "Thank you; I never was one for drinking this horrible concoction." "Any time, so you all know about the books? I always thought there was something fishy about them! Wait, this isn't some stupid joke, is it? Because if it is you all out did yourselves, I'll tell you that." "Nope, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the majority of what all of you read is true."

"But, but how? None of you seem all too happy about your most private information being leaked out to the world, so how did it happen?" "Rita Skeeter" "excuse me?" "Rita Skeeter published Harry's story. A few years ago she stumbled upon one of his personal diaries and began her own story, without anyone's permission of course, the stupid cow. She nearly gave us all away. She's off in hiding somewhere, we would have been able to keep all of this from happening, but she was too sneaky for any of us to know it was her until it was far too late for anything to be done.

It would be impossible to wipe the millions of people's memories who know about us now." She slid down in her seat a bit and sighed, a deep frown marring her pretty face. "I understand, Hermione. I have a question for you though, why did that Harry fellow want me to go to the ministry with him so badly? I mean, I understand that I'm not exactly normal but really, there's nothing very special about me, I'm just a freak of nature, scouts honor." "It's not that you were here that we need to investigate, Florence, it's the fact that you got here.

Either you're a witch or there's something going on here under the radar. Nothing's sacred anymore these days; as you were unfortunate enough to witness for yourself." "I understand that completely, but I'm not a witch, you're not getting that" "oh no, you have no formal training, but what I saw you do today would definitely leave that as an open conclusion. You aren't English, are you? You have a very strange accent."

"No, I'm not, actually. I'm here on a mission with my crew. I'm from the United States, New York to be precise." "Hmmm. . ." before Hermione could finish her sentence her face dropped, and went ghostly pale; she screamed "Harry!!"

just before I could turn around to see what she was going on about I felt something slam into my back, just between my shoulder blades. If that wasn't bad enough, I fell face first to the ground, paralyzed; as soon as I made contact with the ground I was suddenly very aware of the fact that my nose had made good friends with it long before my body had. A muted crack echoed the room as I began to soak in the pool of blood that was steadily flowing around me. All I remember before passing out was thinking to myself, 'so this is what having a broken nose feels like, hmmmm.'


	4. Chapter 4

There are only two things that I absolutely cannot stand in life, the smell of old onions, and the smell of feet; lucky I to awake to both of those scents embedded in taste form in my cotton dry mouth. My face felt swollen and sore, and when I tried to breathe out of my nose I was hindered by the gauze blocking my nasal passageways; the splint didn't really help, either.

I sat up slowly to avoid a head rush, and took in my new surroundings; I was no longer in the Leaky Cauldron, the bright lights, and blatant sense of cleanliness and sterility cut that out right away. There were no windows wherever I was, which seemed especially odd to me because there was no other source of light in the place; 'curious, very curious, at least I have my own room, though'. Before I could really get my bearings I heard a muted argument coming towards my room, I recognized two of the voices but the third one was new to me; feminine and very soft, but definitely not Hermione's.

Suddenly, three figures appeared in front of the frosted glass of my door, I instantly recognized Hermione's frizzy mess of hair, and thin frame; the man I could only assume to be the asshole who put me here, and judging by the hat on the last person's head they had to be a nurse of some sort. Hermione and the nurse were on the verge of screaming at Harry about using some sort of potion to take the pain away and heal me instantly, the jerk, on the other hand didn't see any reason why I would need a potion because "she is a muggle after all, let her heal her way.

Besides, she did it to herself, anyway." The other two continued the argument but from what I caught, it kind of seemed like a lost cause. Slowly, I resigned myself to gathering my clothes, and dressing myself before the three outside decided to take a peak in my room and realized that I was, indeed conscious. Sure enough, everything was there; yeah, except my gun. I took a quick look in the mirror opposite the door and realized just how much damage had been done to my face. 'Thank god for my abnormally fast healing process' I thought weakly.

I peeled the taped on splint from the bridge of my nose and carefully pried the now dried up gauze from my nostrils. I took a deep breath and pinched either side of my nose with both fingers and quickly popped it back into place, causing my eyes to water profusely and a small yelp to escape my lips. I noted the small, but faded bruises underneath my eyes, and the minor swelling, and began to think up assorted excuses to tell my crew and commanding officers. Then it hit me; what time was it? How long had these people had me here? Where WAS here?

I felt a panic attack coming on and began to breathe deeply as I plopped down on a rather uncomfortable chair; I put my head between my knees and began to mumble to myself. Well, apparently wizards have super human hearing because the next thing I knew Harry had opened and slammed the door and told me to "give it a rest." Anger began to cloud my better judgment and before I knew it I was standing in front of him, blocking the only exit.

He seemed surprised by my actions and went to draw his wand, with a flick of my wrist it flew from his hand and slid to a stop below the very same chair I had been sitting on before he came to harass me once again. Harry didn't look quite so sure of himself anymore, in fact, he almost looked like cornered prey under my intense glare. Finally in a maliciously sing song voice I spoke

"tsk tsk Harry, where I come from we fight fair." "w-what ARE you!?" "What am I…? Hmm, well since you're the big, bad, all knowing, superior wizard why don't you tell me?!" "I don't know what you are, besides insane! As soon as that nurse deems you fit to leave I'm personally going to drag you down to the ministry and question you until you can come up with a reasonable answer for that question."

I could hear Hermione and the nurse outside trying to push the door open to no avail, I could hear Hermione yelling "Florence! Open the door right now, you're not in any sort of trouble, everything's fine!" In my peripheral vision I could see Harry inching backwards towards his wand. Without thinking I ran up to him and did the only thing I could do to quell the anger and hatred that I felt for that man; he had a confused look on his face as I grabbed him by the collar of his robes, and didn't even try to fight it when my fist collided violently with his nose.

For the second time in what I could only assume to be one day I heard the terrible crack associated with a breaking nose, but at least I could say it wasn't mine. Harry fell to the ground with a dull thud and both Hermione and the nurse rushed in through to no longer blocked door, both gasping at what lay before them. Slowly, I bent down to get a better look at something on Harry's forehead.

I swear to god my heart stopped. I picked myself up, and turned to face the two flabbergasted women before me. Before either of them could say anything I raised a shaking hand to silence them, and asked in a meek whisper not even slightly reminiscent of my own voice; "H-Hermione, did I just cold-clock Harry Potter in the face?" With an almost amused look on her face she slowly nodded her head yes.

What happened next is kind of a blur but it went something along the lines of me whispering "catch me" before everything in the room faded to a comforting shade of black.


	5. Chapter 5

I awoke to see very irate looking Harry glaring daggers at me from a newly added cot. 'Thank god he's across the room; he looks like he would have choked me in my sleep if he wasn't.' I noticed that his nose was poorly splinted much the same way that mine had been, and had to stifle a laugh when I thought back to the argument I had overheard between Hermione, the nurse, and Harry.

I assumed those two were all for equal treatment between the he and I. "Nice splint, Potter" "don't talk to me, _Chickie_." He put extra emphasis on my nickname and attempted to make a face of discust; this only led to him straining his very broken nose, which drenched his green eyes with unwanted tears. "What kind of name is that, anyway?" "It's a good one, asshole. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to find someway back to my hotel room" on that note I hopped off the cot, and was caught off guard by an unnerving rush of blood to the head.

It was then that the fall earlier came back to me; 'damn it, I guess I hit the floor harder than I thought. If I stay here any longer these people are gonna be the death of me.' Before I knew what was going on, I had already begun to sway; the room started spinning, and my vision became a blurry mess of white light. "Hey, are you okay? Hey!!" I ignored him as I began to crumple to the floor, not even bothering to brace myself for an impact that never came. It took every ounce of strength I had left to consider what had just happened; when I looked up at Harry he was brandishing his wand and whispering something under his breath. He seemed at war with himself, unsure of what to do next. "W-what are you doing, H-Harry?"

I was In no state to put up a fight against a grown man, much less a full fledged wizard so I took it upon myself to gaze away submissively, hoping he wouldn't do any of the terrible things that were running through my mind. It was then that something hit me; if I hadn't hit the ground, and I wasn't back in bed what was it I was laying on? There I was, half conscious, scared shitless, and hovering above the robins egg colored floor, I came to my senses and pushed as hard as I could with my mind; in seconds Harry had been knocked backwards, both of our cots knocked over, and the frosted glass of our door shattered into about a million pieces. I hit the floor with an "ooofff" and whined something along the lines of "ouchhhhhh! What did you do that for?!"when Harry finally came too.

If I had thought it impossible for him to look angrier than he had when I fist woke up, I was severely mistaken. "What did I do?! Are you bloody kidding me, I was trying to help you so you didn't hurt yourself again, you daft cow!" "I am not a cow, you pretentious, closed minded. . ." before I could finish Hermione's voice drowned both of ours out. "That's enough, both of you!! Stop acting like children, this is no time to bicker like two year olds!! Harry, fix this mess right now, I thought I told you not to hurt her! I don't think the ministry would like the idea of their head auror throwing hissy fits and destroying hospital rooms just because he was beat up by a woman!"

"Yeah!" what can I say, her speech really got me going . . . they both turned to look at me with incredulous looks on their faces. "Don't act all innocent, I didn't make this mess, Hermione, she did!" "It was an accident! Maybe if you hadn't been trying to kill me I would have reacted a little better. Here, I'll fix it. Just hang on one minute." I focused on a mental picture of what the room had looked like before my little, erm. . . outburst.

After I heard two gasps of surprise I knew that my job was done. I opened my eyes to see that the room was just the way that I had remembered it, only this time I made sure to add my favorite pillow from home, and my gun hidden safely in the pillowcase. The cots were a little more comfortable, too. After the general air of shock wore off Harry turned to me angrily "what do you mean I tried to kill you!? I was helping you until you decided to slam me into the wall with that freakish ability of yours!"

"It's not freakish! You're just jealous that I don't need to carry a stick around with me to do the same things that you do!" "Oh yeah, real mature, Florence" "I want to go home! I have a concussion, you BROKE MY NOSE, caused me to black out, and now, well, if I stay here any longer I'm sure that I'll be dead by morning! If this is how you treat your guests I'd hate to see how you treat your enemies Harry Potter!" I noticed that Hermione had cleverly snuck out of the room to avoid any further conflict between the two of us.

If things kept up this way one of us actually would be dead by morning. 'Jesus, to think I used to look up to this prick when I was a kid' I thought disdainfully. I stomped over to my cot and grabbed my gun out of my pillow case to replace it in my pea coat; when I had accomplished that goal without Harry noticing I curled up where I had woken up and inhaled the very much missed scent of home from my pillow.

I started when I felt an indent on my cot, and the warmth of another body next to mine. Putting his hand on my shoulder he said "hey, hey, it's okay, Florence. Just don't cry, okay? We already worked everything out with your government; you're not in any sort of trouble." I sat up quickly, and examined his now soft features "you did what!? What did you tell them? Oh god. . ."

I began to pace the room, considering darkly what the military would do with me if they were to somehow find out about my strange abilities. "Calm down, we just explained to them that there was a mishap and that your services were going to be needed for the time being, it took a while, but they eventually obliged. There was no mention of what you're capable of, so no worries about that."

"Thank god, I don't even want to think about what they would do with me if they were to find out." "Well, no need to think about that now, I guess. Not for the time being at least." When I looked in his eyes they seemed so sad, and tired. It was then that I felt sorry for treating him as badly as I had, even if he had deserved it. "Harry?" "Hmm?" "I'm sorry about, well; you know."

"I suppose I can call you forgiven. Someone with your abilities, well, you're an asset to us. Plus I could never hate a woman that throws a punch like you for fear of being beaten up again." A boyish grin began to play its way across his face as he rubbed the back of his head in a shy and embarrassed manner. I returned the grin and began to fiddle with the hem of my shirt sleeve nervously.

'Goddamn my thing for assholes'.


	6. Chapter 6

"Oh! It's unusually quiet in there, Mrs. Weasley!" "Please, just call me Hermione. And you're right, Marlette, maybe they actually did kill each other, or at least manage to knock one another unconscious. I don't know what I'm going to do if those two keep up like this. . ." "Well ma'am if its any consolation I have to kick them out for the ruckus they made earlier, even if they fixed it. It's policy, you know."

Harry and I listened intently until the conversation was over, or they walked away from our room, we couldn't see them through the glass so neither of us could make a decent enough guess as to where the two where located. "So, kicking us out, huh?" I managed to squeak out between fits of giggles; I couldn't tell you why, but for some odd reason I found the whole situation suddenly very funny.

Harry tried to glare in my direction but found it almost impossibly difficult (my giggles are infectious, sometimes deathly so) suddenly we were both laughing uncontrollably "It's . . . not . . . funny, Florence! I'm supposed to be head auror! I have a reputation to uphold!" The face he made to try to suppress his laughter made him look like some strange pug/walrus hybrid, his cheeks were bright red, and the green in his eyes seemed to glitter behind the thin veil of joyous tears that were beginning to make their way down his contorted face.

"Alright, you two, out! Here are your potions. . ." Harry opened his mouth to speak but was rudely cut off by the nurse "ah, ah, ah, Mister Potter, now open wide. . ." I don't know how she did it, to this day it boggles my mind, before either of us knew it the woman had run up to both of us and in those seconds time dispensed a disgustingly gelatinous, and garbage tasting concoction down both of our throats; then she was gone. Harry and I both fell into the fetal position on my cot and began to cough and sputter until the awful feeling of whatever that nurse had given us wore off.

"Oh my god what was that? Have you people not yet discovered the wonders of flavored medicine? Bubble gum, man, bubble gum!" "You think that's bad? At least this stuff doesn't have any side-effects! I'd love to see you attempt to live without bones for a day!" The mental image of Harry as a pile of skin and mush invaded my thoughts and I once again succumbed to a girlish fit of giggles.

As soon as we saw the door begin to open however we each straightened our faces and Harry ran back over to his own cot. Hermione made her way into the room, as she shut the door I could hear the nurse yell "get them out of here!" "Getting along now, are we?" she asked shyly. Harry and I simultaneously grumbled non-chelant responses in her general direction without making eye contact. "Well, come on you lot. Seeing as you're no longer welcome here we're going to have to find somewhere else to loiter." "You know what sounds good right about now?"

"I don't know, Florence, what sounds good?" She sounded tired, actually; she sounded miserable, and mentally and physically exhausted. "Fried food and dessert. Oh and ice cream!" "You know what, that really doesn't sound too bad, Florence." Hermione turned around to stare at Harry with a shocked look on her face. "Well, seeing as I don't have to baby-sit the two of you anymore, I'm going home. I need a soak, and to sleep. All of this still hasn't settled in yet, I'll owl you when I'm ready to see the light of day again, Harry. Florence, please don't hurt him too badly, contrary to what you've been subjected to on his behalf he's really a nice guy; if not a bit daft at times"

I slowly smiled at her, and surprised even myself when I pulled her into a tight embrace. As I pulled away I whispered into her ear and sent a calming wave of euphoria over her, to help her sleep, and keep away the nightmares I knew so well to be associated with the death of someone close to you. I held her at arms length to make sure that she was going to be alright, and that my 'well wishes' had produced the desired effect.

Her eyes were slightly glazed over, and it was obvious that she was extremely calm, kind of like a Hindu cow. "Florence, what did you just do to her?" Harry whispered quietly in my ear. I murmured back "Don't worry, Harry, she'll be fine. All that she needs is to get a good nights rest, she's been through enough today." He looked me up and down, and as he determined that I was telling the truth nodded his head and mouthed the words 'thank you' behind Hermione's back as she swooped in to give him a tight bear hug. She disappeared without another word of goodbye to either of us after she released him.

"I'm just going to stop asking you how you do the things you do." "To be honest, I probably couldn't give you a straight answer if I wanted to, Harry." "You don't know?" "Nope, I'm the only one of my specific 'breed' I've ever come across. Don't try to knock me for not looking, though. I've been everywhere, looked every chance I got. You guys are the first I've yet to come across."

I think he could tell exactly how upset talking about being alone made me because the next thing I knew I was being wrapped up in his surprisingly strong arms. It was then that I felt the connection open between the two of us, and I saw it, or rather knew it. My body went rigid as this stray piece of knowledge weighed heavy on my mind. Harry, feeling my sudden tenseness pulled away and gently raised my chin so that I would meet his gaze.

"What's wrong?" His voice was soft and concerned, I maintained eye contact, mulling over the proper words to use before divulging the secret he'd unwittingly allowed me to become a part of. "Florence?" His voice was harder, sterner now; with a hint of worry underlying the rough tone that he'd chosen to address me with. I sighed deeply, running my hand through my hair in vague hope of wiping myself clean of such unwanted information.

"Harry, why doesn't Hermione know that Ron isn't dead?"


	7. Chapter 7

Whap!! The sharp sound of flesh smacking flesh rang through the room, "ow! What the fuck!?" Harry put his hand to his face and winced as his fingertips grazed against the glowing handprint that was beginning to form on his handsome, I mean pale face. "Well maybe if you'd stop pacing around the place like a crazed tiger I wouldn't have to resort to such extreme measures!" I had adopted a smug attitude, and a short temper because, well, I may have only known Hermione a couple of hours, a day at best, but she was the closest thing that I had to an acquaintance here and I'd be damned if I was going to betray the trust she'd placed in me by allowing something like this to happen to her.

"It's not what you think, you know." "Oh trust me Harry, I know, and it's wrong." He embarrassedly cowered under my serious and intense gaze; he knew I was right. "How do you know?" "I'll tell you some other time Harry, I promise." "You know, at the rate that you're going you're never going to be able to leave here. Even now you know too much for us to just let you wander back off into the muggle world." I quickly brought my eyes up to his, surprised not to find the sneer I had been expecting, instead there was something hard to place. . . longing, maybe?

No, that couldn't be it; this man hated me far too much to actively seek out my presence. "Harry that's not true and you know it. Even if I did go off and tell the world all that I've seen here no one would believe me. Not to mention the fact that I would lose my current position and probably get kicked out of the military. As much as you may brush me the wrong way I could never do that." He dropped his gaze; apparently his shoes were much more interesting than our current conversation. "I know, I'm sorry I worded it that way, all I meant by it was that, erm, well, we're connected now, all of us. You're one of us, this is where you belong. . . listen I don't even recall where I was going with this so lets get something to eat, yeah?"

he hastily made his way down the hallway while I stood there, stock still; allowing what he had said to sink in. It felt good not to be an outcast for once, to have to hide the largest part of myself away for fear of what might happen. "Oi, you coming or not!?" "Did you mean it!?" "Mean what? Come on I haven't got all day!" "That I'm one of you, idiot! Did you mean it?" "Well of course I meant it, I said it, didn't I!?" That's all it took, in a seconds time I had made it down the hallway and thrown myself into his arms. "I'm not an idiot you know"

He whispered softly into my hair. "Don't kid yourself, Potter." I quickly let go of him and started speed walking down the remainder of the hallway, only to turn around to see him looking as dumbfounded as ever. "Oi! You coming or do I have to carry you out?" I said, mocking his stuffy English accent. 'Its not stuffy and you know it'. I slapped a hand to my forehead trying to get my inner voice to shut up. "You know if you keep doing that I might just have to start calling you the idiot around here." "Keep dreaming, stick boy."

"Stick boy!? That's the best you can come up with?! Jesus I heard better quips from Malfoy when we were teenagers!" "Whatever, Harry, I'd like to think that I could string a couple of insults together a bit better than a ferret could." Once again his deep laughter shattered the silence between us and reverberated off the walls. "Oh my, oh my god I haven't thought about that in years! He cried like a baby!" I couldn't help but giggle with him 'so he's not a robot . . . hmmmm.' "Harry what time is it?" "Oh I don't know, bout seven I 'spose." "Oh."

I sighed dejectedly, I had actually wanted to see England while I was here, but I guess that was out of the question now. Tomorrow would be spent doing all the paperwork I couldn't do tonight and then I'd be gone from this place, and these people. "What's up?" "Oh nothing, I just wanted to see the sights before I left." "What do you mean leave?" "Well, day after tomorrow my crew and I leave to go back to Greece." "Chickie you're not leaving in two days." He grinned like a school boy, and rubbed the back of his head, messing up his already shaggy hair.

'Hmm . . . must be a nervous habit.' 'Wait! I make Harry Potter nervous!?' "You all there, Chickie?" I squeaked loudly in reply, having been torn so suddenly from my thoughts had scared the living shit out of me. 'Oh god I really hope I wasn't mumbling like I always do.' "What? God is a mumbler? You're nuts, you know that?" 'Abort, abort! We've been caught!' I covered my face with my hands to hide the blush I knew was creeping up my cheeks "When am I leaving then, Harry?" "What? I can't understand you, you're mumbling" he said smugly. I opened my hands a little bit until they were barn doors on my face "Better one?" I quickly closed my hands back to their original position "better two?" "What?"

I repeated myself. "Better one, definitely." It was rather apparent that I was confusing the hell out of the poor guy. "How long am I staying here, Harry?" "Why don't you take your hands off your face and talk like a big girl, Chickie?" "Just answer my question, Harry." "Nope, sorry, can't do that, not until you have the people skills to converse like a grown up." 'Is he, is he mocking me!? What the hell!?' I flung my arm out to punch him but he grabbed it too quickly and pulled me close to him. Before I could react he had both my hands in his and was lifting my chin with his free hand, I felt my face begin to heat up again. 'Oh, god, oh god, oh god.' "Blushing there, Chickie?"

He lowered his face to my level, it grew closer and closer until I was almost sure he was going to kiss me. He diverted his course at the last minute and leveled his lips with my ear "I knew you fancied me." He whispered gruffly, it was more of a growl than a whisper. I opened a connection into his mind and said in the strongest voice I could muster "Harry, you couldn't be less attractive if someone beat your face in with a ball peen hammer."

Startled he dropped my hands and I took the opportunity to slap him across the face, not as hard as before but with enough force to get the message across. I turned on my heel and made my way out the front door of the hospital, which oddly enough looked like an abandoned dress shoppe from the outside. I made my way quickly towards a dark looking pub down the street; Harry was probably already out looking for me, so I changed pace to a near run and made it inside without him seeing me. When I stormed out of the hospital I made it a point not to sever the connection with him so that I could at least find him when I decided to go back. I have to say that I was getting kind of a laugh from his train of thought too. I ordered a pint and sat down in a booth near to, but not in front of a window; endless strings of 'fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, and this is bad, very bad.'

Ran through my mind and I had to suppress a laugh when I saw him run past the front window of the pub disheveled and frantic. Apparently Harry has an inner voice too because he began to viciously chastise himself. 'You just had to do it, didn't you Potter? Great job, now you've gone and lost her, you bloody fool.' 'It was an accident! I didn't think she'd react like that! She's bloody gorgeous, I wasn't thinking!'

'Well I can't say I don't agree with you there, mate.' 'Of course you fucking do you're me, idiot. Wait; you're not me!' At that I had to laugh aloud, causing many of the pubs scant patrons to turn and scowl in my general direction; I shot them the largest smile I could muster and continued to listen to Harry's thoughts. 'Well of course I'm not you, Harry! To be honest I'm pretty glad that I'm not, from the looks of it you've got a dirty mind here.'

'I-I, where are you!?' 'Oh, you know, I'm around, just enjoying the scenery.' 'Has anyone ever told you that you're about as evil as the devil?' 'On many occasions and in many different languages, no need to remind me Harry.' 'Okay, seriously where are you? It's dark outside and I don't want you to get hurt.' 'Awww, does Harry care about my well being? Not to remind you or anything but I kind of am the thing that goes bump in the night.' 'Oh shut up and meet me out front of St. Mungos, you stuck up tart.'

'That's Miss stuck up tart to you, Harry.'


	8. Chapter 8

I finished my pint and made to walk out the door when something caught my eye in the back room of the pub; six men, all wearing black cloaks were huddled around a secluded table and not one of them looked very happy. Now normally I would just let this slide and go about my merry way, after all, I had Harry to torture but one thing, or should I say person stuck out in the very similar looking group of men. He had sandy brown colored hair and light eyes; though I couldn't make out the specific shade from the distance I was surveying him from.

I gasped in surprise when I realized exactly where I knew his face from. The man from the Leaky Cauldron rose from his seat and began to make his way over to where I was now standing rigid from shock. 'Harry!' 'I'm not speaking to you, why aren't you here yet?' 'Harry please!' 'Whoa, what's wrong?' 'The man! The man I saw leave the Leaky Cauldron this morning, he's here and he's walking over to me what do I do!?' 'What's he wearing?' 'What kind of stupid question is that to ask at a time like this?!' 'I'm being serious, Florence what is he wearing!?'

'A-A black traveling cloak wow what a strange pin he's got.' 'Run now, Florence.' 'Running!' Without a second thought I turned around and ran out the door without so much as a glance behind me. I heard the door to the establishment close and heavy footsteps behind me "Wait! Come back here!" he sounded winded already; he shouldn't be too hard to lose. "Haha! Now why would I want to do that?!"

'Florence? Florence!?' 'What Harry? I'm a little busy at the moment!' 'Just making sure that you're alright, where are you?' 'Just down the street from St. Mungo's chill out' 'Chill out!? You expect me to chill out while there's a Death Eater chasing you down the street!?' "It's not what you think!" Harry's thoughts were running through my mind a mile a minute, mixed half-hazardly with my own along with this stranger's conversation and the act of running for my life, who ever said that existence couldn't be an adventure? "How could this not be what I think, Mister I kill people without remorse and relish in the pain and suffering of others!?" I heard a light chuckle behind me and almost stopped to make a face at him.

'Is he . . . laughing? What the hell is wrong with this guy?!' Finally the shabby old dress shop was in view, Harry took notice of the direction I was coming from and started racing over to the two of us. "You know, if I wanted to kill you I would have done it by now!" Harry was running straight at me, and didn't look like he was considering stopping. 'Florence, I want you to duck right before I hit you'

'what!?' 'Duck!!' I did as I was told; right before Harry had the chance to run full force into me I dropped to the ground and awkwardly rolled between his legs. As soon as I was safely out of sight He punched my pursuer dead in the face, apparently he had been closer to my tail than I had originally thought. 'Whoa, where'd you learn to do that?' 'Trust me, you don't want to know.' Once he had the man's wand he cast some sort of binding spell on him and lifted his face to get a better look at him. "Fuck!" "What?" "This cant be right, we have to get to the ministry right now."

"What's going on here, Harry?" "Nothing is going on! Just please keep your mouth shut and do as you're told, I'll only ask this of you once, I swear. Now, hold on tight." He grabbed onto both my and the Death Eater's arms and the entire world became a staggering whirlwind of color and the swirling shapes of semi solid objects; my whole body felt like it was being turned inside out, just before I was sure that I was going to vomit everything came to a harsh stop and I fell to the ground inside of the strangest place I think I've ever been.

The rounded ceiling was made entirely of glass, and just like in the books there was a gigantic fountain in the middle of the enormous room. Hundreds of owls flew over head to create a fantastic blur of browns, grey, white, and black, I caught a feather just before it was cast off by the faint breeze caused by the ventilation system and fiddled with it nervously between my fingers.

Even at seven o'clock in the evening there was a huge crowd of people trying to bustle their way here and there, nearly all of them greeting Harry with a warm, albeit professional 'Good Evening Mister Potter.' Harry's grip on my arm was unwavering, like I would somehow be lost in the ocean of what I could only assume to be wizards. Finally we left the entrance hall and Harry led me to a large, dark wooden door; opening it slowly he revealed the messiest office I've ever seen.

There was a comfortable leather couch against the side wall draped with a well used blanket and tattered pillow; the desk was made of the same dark wood as the door and was littered with papers, quills, and bottles of ink; upon closer inspection I noticed a lone picture frame laying face down in top of a stack of yet more papers. Harry ran over to his desk and started rummaging around for something in it's drawers; it wasn't until I saw his name in soft golden letters on a scroll looking name tag that I realized this was his office and it all made sense (even though I hadn't really gotten to know him this place was very Harry).

"I'll have some food sent up for you, some tea too. Do you like tea?" For the first time since we had arrived at the ministry Harry's eyes met mine and he properly addressed me. "Yeah, some Earl Gray would be awesome, but really Harry I can wait you don't have to go through the trouble of sending anything up for me." "No, no, no you probably haven't eaten in hours you must be starving; besides that were probably going to be here a while. I have to get this sorted out before word gets out about what happened tonight."

"Who was that man? If he's just a death eater why don't you arrest him and be done with it? You could let me take care of him you know?" a small smirk delicately replaced my grave expression as I thought of all the things I could do to the man who probably would have killed me. "There's a little bit more to it than that I'm afraid; otherwise he'd already be in Azkaban." Stealing a glance at his watch Harry gasped.

"I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I possibly can. Dinner will be up shortly, after that I wouldn't suggest wandering about, the ministry's on a bit of a lock down right now so a strange face wouldn't exactly be welcomed . . . ." He seemed to be talking to himself rather than me but I acknowledged him all the same; once he registered my curt nod he grabbed an arm full of paperwork and ran out the door. 'Well this is just awesome . . . .'

'I'll make it up to you I swear.' I jumped as his deep voice invaded my mind; I guess I had forgotten to close the connection between us. Smiling to no one but myself I replied 'Oh! Just how do you suppose you'll go about that, Mister Potter? It seems to me you've got a lot of making up to do.' Almost automatically dirty pictures and thoughts flooded my conscious mind, so that was how he was planning on making this horrible situation up to me? 'This may be a foreign country but I'm pretty sure rape is illegal world wide, Harry.' 'Haha just kidding, Chickie, just kidding.'

'Okay that's it I'm closing this connection, your minds too dangerous for someone as innocent as myself.' 'NO! I quite like having you in here, it's comforting really.' 'Comforting, Harry? Sexual harassment is comforting to you!?' 'Only when I'm sexually harassing you. By the way, innocent!? You honestly have the nerve to call yourself innocent?!'

'Yes I do and I'm the female here unless you happen to be hiding something so you have to treat me like the delicate flower I am lest there be consequences.' 'Oh good lord I thought you'd be above all that.' There was a hard knock on the door and then a pale haired woman stepped lightly into the room; on the tray she was carrying were an assortment of fried foods and a medium sized bowl of chocolate ice cream, cherry on top and all. With a flick of her wand a kettle appeared whistling on the coffee table next to Harry's 'nest'.

A tea cup and cozy appeared on the table next to the tray of food and the woman disappeared before I had the chance to thank her.

The door snapped shut and I took it upon myself to devour the food that had been brought up for me; procuring myself an after dinner cigarette I laid down on Harry's couch and curled up tightly underneath his blanket. Sleep came swiftly and easily and it wasn't until I was being violently shaken by a tense looking Harry that I remembered that our connection hadn't been closed, leaving him victim to every violent, bloody, and painful memory, vision, and prediction that I have to suffer to when I lay my head to rest at night.


	9. Chapter 9

A final wave of exhaustion ran through my partially lucid body before I was finally conscious enough to take in the pained expression washing over Harry's already drawn face. Guilt swept over me and I tenderly pulled him into a comforting hug; whether it was for his benefit or mine I'm not very sure. "oh Harry I'm so sorry, I should have known better than to . . . I should have closed myself off, I didn't mean to you have to believe me. No one deserves to be subjected to that, especially when they're not given warning"

Tears began to prickle and burn the corners of my eyes when he didn't release me. Holding him at arms length I took him in, the same excruciating expression gazed back at me and he still refused to speak. I felt so guilty, what if he would never be the same? It would all be my fault of course, not that I particularly like Harry but no one deserved a fate like that.

I started when I felt Harry's warm hands dragging across my face; I hadn't been apt enough to force those shameful tears back where they had come from. Once my face was dry he got up and walked slowly to his desk, opening a drawer he pulled a bottle of fire whiskey and summoned two glasses as he made his way back to the couch I was now crumpled on, awestruck. I took my glass and made to say something when I was quickly cut off. "So they're looking for you, huh? He must want you pretty bad to resort to forcing things like that into your mind while you're asleep."

I raised my hand to protest but I knew it was already too late, he knew too much to even dare lie to him now. I opened and closed my mouth in a very unlady like fashion, searching for the right things to say but coming to a hard wall; what would he do when he found out the truth?

Harry put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed in a very gentle but all the same firm manner. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but know this; whatever secrets or demons that you unleash in this room stay here. Contrary to Skeeter's description of me I'm a little bit better at legilimancy then the world has been led to believe." I took notice of his boyish grin and knew that he was telling the truth.

I sighed deeply and started from the beginning; if he was ever going to understand he would have to know everything. He didn't speak once the entire time; I spoke until my throat was dry and scratchy, finally after what seemed like hours he knew every tiny detail of my existence up until that very moment. "And that's why I joined the Navy, Harry. It was an easy escape route, even if my four years are almost over. It gave me the time to gather what little I could and ready myself for whatever was to come as best as I could.

I don't want to put any of you in any greater danger then I already have . . . if it comes down to it I would rather die then allow him to use me as he plans to." I groped around the floor for my pea coat and dug around until I had my pistol in hand. Harry looked a little surprised but did his best to cover it up and regain his stoic façade; I popped the chamber and tipped it until a single bullet fell into my palm.

"One bullet Harry, kind of silly to only have one bullet in a gun if you're going to use it to defend yourself with isn't it?" Harry looked like he could either burst into tears or kill someone in any second; he stood up quickly and put his hand out. "Give it to me right now." Hesitantly I put my last resort in his outstretched hand; he turned around and dropped both my gun and only bullet into the waste basket; as strange as this may sound I almost felt relieved. I knew what he was thinking and I couldn't possibly let him go through with it.

"I can't let you take my burden upon yourself, no matter how much you may want to protect the innocent I can't let you be my hero Harry, not this time at least. Trust me I'm not worth it." He stiffened at my harsh but true words, he was frustrated. "It doesn't matter chickie I'm going to watch over you whether you like it or not. Face it, I'm the only person who knows what you're going through; so logically I am the only person who can help you." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose in hopes that it would subside the migraine I felt coming on.

"I appreciate it, I really do but I could never ask someone to risk their life for me, I've lost everyone I ever so much as thought to care about Harry. I lead a cursed existence, I'm better off alone." Harry was really and truly angry now. "And you think that I don't?! Do you honestly think that my life has been a fucking cake walk!? The boy who lived . . . what a bloody joke! We're both cursed, don't you dare forget that."

I felt ashamed suddenly, and very selfish; how lonely he must have been his whole life. Harry sat down at his desk and opened yet another drawer and slammed it shut rather loudly; he lit himself a cigarette and downed his whiskey only to refill his glass and repeat the process. The hardwood floors suddenly became very interesting as I gazed at them through my hands. "Fine." I murmured quietly. "Come again?" his tone was dark and harsh.

I looked up at him defiantly "I said fine you hardheaded son of a bitch." His mood visibly lightened but he was still a bit angry, that much was evident. Quickly he stood from his desk and gathered all of his papers and a few other things and threw them into a briefcase that seemed far too small to carry everything he was cramming into it. Putting out his cigarette and stashing his bottle of whiskey he grabbed his coat and strode confidently to the exit.

"Well, are you coming or not?" puzzled, I looked up at him questioningly. "Coming where exactly Harry?" his answer was short, simple, and caused me to rise and gather my own belongings very quickly. "Coming home of course, where else?"


	10. Chapter 10

Three weeks, that's how long I had to spend with Harry. During the day I would follow him into the office and read over the old textbooks I had found digging through what I could only assume to be Grimmauld place; or rather that's what I gathered seeing as the shabby street signs on either corner of the street told me it was Grimmauld place.

I would sit on the couch and attempt different spells while Harry ran in and out all day; I told him that I didn't want to be a bother but he insisted I come to the ministry with him so nothing would happen to me when he wasn't around (honestly I'm lucky he didn't follow me into the bathroom most of the time).

When he was done with whatever it was that he did he would take me around London or wherever else we felt like going, Harry was starting to grow on me, actually. Eventually and unfortunately I had to go back to my base and finish the last 9 months of my contract; after three years of mulling it over I decided that I would not be re-enlisting, not at the moment at least. Harry and I argued for days about how I should get back to my base; I pleaded to fly while he insisted he apparate me there personally and have a meeting with my commanding officer about the sensitivity of what I had been 'working' on for the British government and that I may need to be taken back into their custody should the need arise.

I begged him not to, literally begged but the damned idiot had it stuck in his mind that it was "absolutely necessary". Needless to say I was really going to be in for it when I got back to work.

"Why do you always have to get your own way?! I mean really, cant you just man up and let me make up my own mind for once? If I wanted someone to think for me on a regular basis I would have renewed my contract with the Navy!" "Nope, sorry love but I don't trust muggle transportation." "Oh not this again Harry you were raised by 'muggles'"

I made bunny ears with the fingers of either hand to accentuate the point I was still foolishly trying to make. "And in case you've forgotten Harry, I am a 'muggle'. That hurts right here." I once again made my hand gesture and put my hands on my heart; I gave an all star pout and met his gaze with glittering eyes' too bad he wasn't buying. Harry gave me a devilish smirk and walked in my direction until there was barely enough room between us to constitute two people. Carefully I stepped beck until I was up against the arm of the couch.

Harry bent down and brushed the hair away from my neck, he lingered a moment allowing his breath the tickle the sensitive flesh of the crook of my neck and proceeded to kiss his way up, across my jaw, and kissed the corner of my lips before moving in for the kill. He's a charmer, that Harry Potter. He started off with a soft brush against my bottom lip then halted for a moment, my eyes were closed so I couldn't tell you exactly what the hell it was he was doing, I didn't hear any zippers being opened so I assumed he wasn't going to rape me or anything.

I guess the fact that I hadn't slapped him in the face or put him into a world of pain gave him the okay to kiss me again in his head, this time it was a bit more forceful. Always up for a little fun and admittedly a little bit turned on by the sheer Gaul of this man I kissed him back, just as forcefully as he did me. I bit his bottom lip and began to suck on it and play with it with my tongue, he took his cue and took hold of my ass with both hands and roughly pulled me closer to him, almost lifting me off the ground; hell, why not?

I jumped up as gracefully as possible and wrapped my legs around his hips as hard as possible without hurting the poor guy. He leaned me into the wall and I put my hands through his shaggy hair, more of a mane actually, Harry groaned in appreciation; apparently I wasn't the only one getting a rise out of this. Suddenly the door flew open "Harry I need you to look over thi . . . OHMYGOD! I knew it!"

we both froze and a few things happened in consecutive order and an extremely short period of time; both of our bodies stiffened and literally froze, faces still together, our grips on each other loosened and I fell unceremoniously to the floor with a thud "OWWWWWW!!" Hermione began to laugh so hard I nearly thought she'd burst into tears and she quickly left the room. I heard a muffled snigger to my left and realized Harry was trying to keep himself from laughing too.

I glared daggers at him and proceeded to yell "you dropped me! No, wait worse . . . you KISSED me!!" I started wiping my tongue on the sleeve of my jacket and began to cough as though I had been force fed Hemlock. "I kissed YOU? You did it to yourself sweetheart, sorry to break it to you." "I'm sorry all I caught of that was blah blah blah I'm an insipid jerk. You don't have Aids do you? OH GOD I HAVE AIDS NOW!! Completely skipped the HIV stage I have full blown AIDS! This is terrible!"

Harry looked down at me like I had three heads and was foaming at the mouth. "What!? Aren't you going to help me up? I'm fragile now!" Harry lifted me off the ground with ease and I dusted myself off before walking smoothly to the couch and resuming my 'studies'.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught Harry staring at me just as blankly as before; just as I was going to tell him to 'shove it' he cut me off. "Florence?" "Yes, Harry?" As innocently as a Mormon first grader he asked "What's Aids?"

I slapped my hand flat against my forehead and mumbled "Coulda had a v-8" "What was that?" "Nothing Harry, nothing at all."


	11. Chapter 11

"And so sir I hope that the information I was able to tell you was sufficient enough to explain the sticky situation we've put Ms. Benson into. I apologize for the inconvenience; the weight that we've put on this woman's shoulders should never have been placed there but as of now there is nothing we can do about that. I pray that she'll not be penalized for our government's mistake."

The heavy set man in front of Harry shifted in his seat a bit to properly display his imposing air of dominance, it was clear that he wasn't happy with the situation his best officer had somehow gotten herself into. On any other occasion this person would have been ostracized, possibly even discharged but for some reason or other his superiors were keen on pretending the entire incident had ever even happened, like this officer hadn't been gone for nearly a month; a near month that hadn't been taken from her allotted leave time mind you.

This did not please the chief at all, and although he wanted nothing more than to lay down his iron fist on the young woman she was being heavily monitored at all times, whether she knew it he had not a clue but she was obviously off limits to him for a reason; either they were worried she would slip up and pass off information to the Brits or she actually had gotten herself into some heavy shit and wanted to be sure that she didn't try to get away from it somehow; neither of these options made sense to the high ranking officer but in cases like these the answer never made sense to anyone.

"Petty officer Benson will not be held accountable for the actions taken by your country as I am sure you are well aware of Mr. . . . Potter was it?" Harry nodded his head calmly and let the man continue his thought. "I thank you for coming down here personally but I truly believe it to be unnecessary and a little bit rude to show up in my office without an appointment or even a call to announce your arrival. I'm sorry you had to make a trip so far for something so little."

Harry was more than a little bit aggravated by this man, and if he hadn't been under a tight veil of secrecy he wouldn't have hesitated to hex this . . . Chief corporeal something or other into oblivion. He was the Head Auror after all. On that note Harry stood from his uncomfortable chair and shook the man's hand in a stern farewell and turned to leave.

As the secretary escorted him out of the building to the 'convoy' the ministry had provided him with he couldn't help but let his mind drift to Florence and wonder where she was at that very moment; was she faring well back here? When he left her she didn't seem too keen on what she described as 'debriefing'' for a moment she even looked scared.

Not that he would know when Florence was scared or not, he had only known her for a couple of weeks; how could he? His thoughts were interrupted by a terse voice that flowed like silk over his treasonous thoughts of the strange woman he had lived with for almost a month. 'I'm fine, stop worrying about me. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were turning to mush Potter.'

'If you don't quit invading my thoughts I'll have to stop being a pervert Florence.' "Oh please, I think I would have a better chance of riding a unicorn before you stopped trying to picture me naked.' 'I'm going to pretend that can't be arranged so I can continue my life as close to normal as possible.' He waited for another quick comeback but received nothing but a quiet reply. 'You can let me pet a unicorn?'

He laughed to himself and the driver of his private car gazed at him questioningly in his rearview mirror; Harry blushed and rolled up the soundproof divider that had been absent when he got into the car. The quiet surprise in her voice had caught him off guard, she sounded so innocent and the memory of it kept repeating in his mind. 'Yes I could take you to one or we could find one in the forbidden forest one day if you'd like?'

'This is a cruel joke, right?' 'Uhhh . . . no? Really, if you don't want to forget I mentioned it.' 'NO! I don't think that you understand, ever since I was a little girl I have always wanted to see a unicorn; it would be cruel to play a joke like that on someone. I was just making sure that you weren't.' 'I would never do something like that to you, Florence.

Oh, by the way the next time you come to England I need to take you down to Diagon alley to get you a wand. As soon as you're done with your Navy business you are to begin your training with Micah Hayes, she is a brilliant witch and an excellent teacher; I think that you'll really enjoy each other's company.' 'Wand? Training? What are you talking about Harry? I'm not a witch so why would I need a wand?'

'You'll need to at least learn to use a wand, I know that you're good at masking your presence but a woman wandering about using wandless magic is going to be a dead giveaway. As soon as the wrong person sees that you're as good as dead, or in your case far worse. We're also going to take a trip to see Dumbledore as soon as you're ready.' 'Dumbledore!? Isn't he dead, Harry?'

Harry flinched as soon as he heard the words; Dumbledore's death had always been a sore spot for him no matter how the man had used him as an end for the better part of seven years. 'Yes he is indeed dead, Florence. We'll be convening with either his ghost or portrait; whichever is available at the time.' Sensing his discomfort Florence rallied for the right thing to say to put him at ease, coming to a blank she said the only thing that came to mind whenever she found herself in this kind of situation with Harry.

'I'm sorry Harry, I should have thought before I went and opened the floodgate that happens to be my mouth.' He was quiet for a few minutes before he replied, the suddenness of his voice made her shudder where she sat in the office she shared with a man named William, though he preferred to be called Bill. He took notice of this and cocked an eyebrow at her now stiff form. She avoided his eye contact and proceeded to start sorting through the weeks of paperwork he had not had the urge to help her with. 'But I love it when you open that trap of yours.'

'Thank you, Harry; I just didn't want to open up any old wounds.' 'Of course; hey I'm about to apparate back to England now that I'm safely away from your crazy military base. Really, the order of it all was beginning to scare me. I know that it drains you to have to keep a connection with someone so far away so I thought I would give you the heads up.' 'Thanks Harry, I guess I'll see ya when I see ya then?'

'Oh I'll be keeping in contact. Until we meet again, Florence Benson.'


	12. Chapter 12

"Another tour!? I only just came back from a tour three months ago, and I went on mission!" I slammed my head on my desk in an attempt to add even more drama to the situation. "Oh would you give it a rest, Benson? Isn't it enough that you're out in a couple of months? Besides you never had a problem going on tour before, why the sudden change of heart? I would have thought you'd love it considering its going to be your last one before you go back into the wild blue yonder that is the civilian world."

"Cut it out Bill it's been a rough couple of months, alright?" "No weakness Benson, remember that." I waved my hand at him dismissively, put my laptop into my briefcase, and wondered to myself just how some of these people had allowed the military to brainwash them, or maybe they were just like that to begin with; spineless lemmings with no purpose in life but to fulfill the wishes of those above them.

I was never like that, don't get me wrong I do my job as told to the best of my ability without question but that still doesn't change the fact that I am a leader by nature, and that is why all of my superiors like me (they pretend that they don't but I know the truth). 6 days until I ship out, wonderful. I made my way to my small apartment bungalow hybrid and began to sort through the things that I'd need to bring with me to make the next six months at least partly enjoyable. Harry said that my 'training' was going to start as soon as I was done here; I wonder if that means I'll be staying in England or going somewhere else? Before I can let my mind wander anymore I see an owl flapping madly outside my bedroom window.

Carefully I open it and allow the bird to swoop in and land almost soundlessly on the small table set daintily in the middle of the room. Not thinking whether owls are carnivorous or not I grabbed a small piece of steak from the night before and set it in front of the bird while unbinding the envelope from its outstretched leg. Judging by the way it devours the steak I take it that the animal is, indeed a meat eater.

Before opening the letter I take notice of the ministry seal and figure that it must be Harry trying to bother me with some trivial matter, lets face it the man does have a bit of a thing for me after all. After opening the letter I notice that the owl that delivered it still hasn't left my bedroom, after skimming the letter itself and realizing that the letter is indeed from Harry, and that he needs to speak with me face to face as soon as possible and to reply with the best possible time for him to apparate into my apartment. I roll my eyes, give the owl the last of the steak and reach into Harry's mind regardless of how much it drains me.

'You rang, darling?' 'Well I didn't think that you would get back to me so quickly, love. You don't have to hurt yourself for my benefit.' 'Hurt, pain? I don't even know what these things are, Harry. You can apparate into my bedroom now if you'd like.' 'So forward, I love it. Too bad I have some business to attend to or I would gladly take you up on your offer.' 'Pervert, dirty, mangy pervert. I'm sitting in my bedroom and I don't feel like moving, so if you'd like to see me you're going to have to come here.' 'As you wish, my lady.'

With a loud pop Harry was found lounging in the armchair near the window I had only just let the owl into. Casually he rose from my comfy chair and took a small note from his pocket; attaching it to the owl's leg he whispered something into it's ear and the tawny bird took flight and disappeared into the fading afternoon light; leaving the pervert and myself to our own devices, in my bedroom.

I stood from my bed and walked over to my guest with my arms crossed over my chest, I adopted the most dominant position I could and proceeded to question the newest bane of my existence. "Well Mr. Potter what can I do for you?" "So formal Ms. Benson? What may I ask is the occasion?" "I've had a long, shitty day Harry I'd appreciate it if you gave the cocky, impetuous git act a rest."

His face softened and he returned to his seat on my arm chair, with a flick of his wand the coffee table next to it was transformed into another one just like it. I stared blankly at the new chair before sitting gently down onto it. When I looked into his eyes I noticed they had a certain amused sparkle to them. "What are you so happy about Harry?"

"You totally just said git; I do believe that I'm starting to rub off on you Florence." Even I had to crack a smile at that. "No, I really don't think it's you Harry. My mother's first husband was English and I spent a lot of time with him growing up; even after they split I would go see him most summers. His accent kind of rubbed off on me I guess, when I get really flustered I start to talk with a bit of a drawl." For some reason unbeknownst to me I started to blush at this, like I actually had something to be embarrassed about.

When I looked up I caught the confused look Harry was directing towards me, like he wanted to ask but didn't know whether I would hit him if he did. "My mother was never married to my father, Harry. Actually she never even told me who he was, just another sperm donor I guess." I shrugged my shoulders and let him mull this over. "So what brings you to my humble abode? Besides the fact that you're obsessed with me that is?"

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes for good measure. "I have a surprise for you, since you have the rest of the day off and I told everyone in the office I had 'business' to attend to we have as long as we need." "Okay first of all how did you know I had the rest of the day off? And secondly we have as long as we need to do what prey tell?" "To give you the grand tour of the place you'll be spending the year or so following your release from this prison." He spread his arms about him so as to make a point and looked to me for a reaction.

"What- What are you talking about? Is it even safe for us to wander about?" "Oh trust me, where we're going is possibly the safest place in the magical world or otherwise." "Oh is that right? So I take it Hogwarts is now accepting twenty four year old women then Harry?" "You really need to stop reading my mind, love." "You're kidding, right?" "No why would I . . ."

he was cut off when I jumped up from the seat and dragged him out of his "Well what are you waiting for silly we don't have all day! Isn't it gigantic there?! Oh gods it's a good thing it's Friday! Should I bring an overnight bag?!" "Well you know now that I think about it we just might have to spend the night, Jesus why didn't I think of that?" "Because I'm brilliant Harry.

You shouldn't try to reach my level of expertise you might just over exert yourself and become a catatonic vegetable." "Haha very funny, Florence. Are you going to pack your bag or not?" "I'm going, I'm going." Within five minutes I was ready to go and making every attempt to drag Harry away from the panty drawer he had somehow stumbled upon while I was packing.

I don't even think I knew where that was (I don't wear underwear all that often to tell the truth.) Before I knew it we were standing in the middle of the oldest fashioned, cobble stoned, beautiful village I had ever been to in person. In the distance I could see a castle, not just any castle though, no; this was the castle that had plagued my dreams since I was a little girl, and not even those could do it justice.

We made our way up the grassy hills towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry quietly due to the fact that every time I made the effort to speak I was overtaken by the urge to stare and my normally active mouth became useless as it hung limply in pure amazement. We entered the gates and made our way into the castle all the way to the headmasters office Harry begrudgingly mumbled the word "Expelliarmus" and the gargoyles separated to reveal a winding staircase that led up to an elegant office with an empty desk; apparently the headmaster (who I assumed to be Professor McGonagall) was not in right now. A couple of portraits murmured polite hellos to Harry and I when I heard my name called.

"Ahh Ms. Benson I see that you've finally allowed yourself to be found!" "I wouldn't call the discovery of my existence that if you don't mind Professor Dumbledore, especially since I found them." "I see, you were always a smart girl, I knew you'd come around eventually." Not understanding what the portrait of the happy old man had just said to me I took a step closer to the wall on which he was hung.

"I'm sorry sir but I don't quite understand . . ." "All in good time, my dear; all in good time. Right now if my ears do not deceive me our dear headmaster doth approach. Ahh! Here he is now!" Harry and I turned to face the door as it began to open. In stepped a sight I never even began to imagine I would see in my lifetime. "Hello Harry and you must be the infamous Ms. Benson that I'll be housing next year."

The headmaster shook both of our hands stiffly and took a seat behind the massive desk. "Please, do take a seat Ms. Benson I dare say I don't have all day, and if you don't close your mouth soon you'll start catching flies; it is very impolite to stare, madam."


	13. Chapter 13

"So will I be sorted into a house?" "Well you wont officially be attending Hogwarts Ms. Benson so I don't think that will be necessary." "Please call me Florence or Chickie Ms. Benson is far too formal for my taste." "And for the tenth time I would much prefer to keep this very formal, Ms. Benson." "I'll tell you what; if you sort me into a house I will gladly acquiesce to your request and deal with it."

I smirked at the headmaster and watched the wheels in his head go to work on the compromise I had offered him. "You don't even have a wand yet, and if you are sorted you will need to stay in said houses dormitories, have meals with the students, and so on. I don't think that is something a woman your age would particularly find suitable. Not to mention how the students will react to having a grown woman sharing house with them. I'm sorry but I have to decline." "Oh I'm not that old!" I turned to the portrait of Dumbledore and gave him a pleading look.

"Back me up on this professor!" "Severus I don't think it would be that bad of an idea, Ms. Benson . . . excuse me Chickie was denied the opportunity to attend Hogwarts at a very young age, why not allow her to experience something she has had coming to her for a very long time?" Professor Snape sighed and thought on Dumbledore's argument for quite some time before he came to a conclusion.

"Alright, but if anything and I mean anything unsavory transpires from this I will deny you use of my school indefinitely, after that you'll have to find somewhere else to . . . 'study'" Dumbledore and I both answered at the same time "Agreed" Harry and Snape exchanged glances with each other before looking at me very intently. "Well, would you prefer to be sorted now or when you arrive in the next few months?"

"No time better than the present?" I was beginning to get nervous . . . what house would I be sorted into? What would the hat think of me when it looked into my memories? What if it refused to sort me at all? The questions began to build up until I wished I hadn't asked to be sorted at all when Harry took my hand in his, he whispered "Don't worry love, it doesn't matter what house you get into; no one will think any less of you."

I sighed in relief just as Snape returned with a tattered old hat in his hand. He stopped in front of me and asked once more "You're sure about this?" I merely nodded my head and he placed the sorting hat on my head. Instantly what once seemed to be a dirty rag came to life and stood prominently on the top of my head. "Ahh what have we here? A bit old though, aren't we? Florence Benson I've been waiting for you a long time." I wasn't sure if the hat's voice was in my head or not but regardless it rang true and clear. Memories began to play in my minds eye and he started his work.

"Never sorted anyone so old before, there's a lot here in your head." "Hey! I'm not that old!" Harry and Snape both looked at me like I was a nut job "looks like I'm the only one who can hear him." I whispered defeated. "I did not mean to offend young lady, you've been through much hardship I see; your wisdom is far beyond your own age. I see you've killed to save your life and the lives of those you swore to protect, courage beyond measure though I sense a lingering fear within you, cunning no doubt otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here today. You would have done well in slytherin; smart, very smart though far too lazy to belong in ravenclaw. You're destined for great things, but you've heard that before too haven't you!? So what's it gonna be Florence? Slytherin or Gryffindor? No don't answer that I see it here, in this memory right before your eyes. You remember that day don't you? Riding in the woods, a lovely day it was. Not watching where you were going your helmet knocked a hive of bees and they sought to attack you. Instead of running away and leaving your horse you stayed there with it and led it back to the barn, completely forgetting your deathly allergy in your plight to make sure your equine friend was safe and sound. Almost died that day, you did. Selfless to the core, you see the greater good and know what you have to do to achieve that for those around you; even if it means you wont be there to reap the benefits in the end I place thee Florence Anberlin Benson in GRYFINDOR!!"

I smiled sheepishly as Harry beamed at me and Snape seemed to be failing at hiding his scowl. Snape gingerly took the sorting hat off my head and Harry swept me up into his arms "I knew it! You don't belong anywhere else! Come on we have to go celebrate!" he said goodbye to Snape and made his way down the stairs. When he noticed I wasn't following he turned and asked "Coming, Florence?"

"Of course, Harry just give me one moment with the headmaster." "Alright just meet me downstairs." I nodded my head in acknowledgement and he turned and left. Snape eyed me warily "Is there something I can help you with Ms. Benson?" "I just wanted to apologize for earlier Professor Snape. It's just that, well . . . I thought . . ." "That I was dead, yes I assumed as much." I blushed profusely at this "Think nothing of it, enjoy your time here to the best of your ability; I can tell just from your presence that you have the capacity to be a very powerful witch. Now I know why he searched for you for so long. Now don't look at me like that not everything in those books were false."

"Yes, of course." "You should probably go; there will be plenty of time to talk in the coming months. Wouldn't want to keep our dearest hero waiting now would you?" "What? Oh, you mean Harry. Of course not, wouldn't want to see the wrath of a primadonna now would we?" Snape actually cracked a smile and CHUCKLED! Can you believe that? I started down the staircase and turned around to face the aged Snape.

"And professor Snape?" "Yes Ms. Benson?" "To be completely honest with you I never saw what was so great about Harry in the books anyway. Regardless of how you were portrayed you were always my favorite character." I smiled shyly at him and he merely stared at me, mouth agape. "See you in the fall Professor!" I winked at him and met Harry in the hallway. "What was that about?" "Oh nothing, just making friends."

"I doubt anyone could ever really be friends with Severus Snape Florence." "You'd be surprised how easy it is when you actually try, Harry." "Oh yeah I forgot you have the whole mind addling ability thing, even if someone doesn't like you, you hack into their brain and force them to." I punched him in the arm and watched him start running away. Chasing after him I yelled

"Hey that is NOT fair Harry! I'm likeable did you ever think about that!" Suddenly he was right in front of me and I ran smack into his chest. He took me into his arms and lifted my chin so that I was mere inches away from him.

"No, hadn't given it a thought really." Slowly he placed his lips on mine and pulled away with my hand in his to continue walking away from the school. I hadn't even realized we were on the grounds, I wish I had taken in my surroundings; maybe then I would have noticed the red haired woman glaring at the two of us from across the school yard.


	14. Chapter 14

Butterbeer has a taste to it that I can't quite find words to describe . . . its warm and inviting like a pair of wool socks or a velour blanket on a cold winter day. It was now evening in hogsmead village and Harry and I were royally sloshed. We laughed and told stories about the past, better times from when we were both younger, and yet seemingly so much wiser than we had found ourselves at this present time.

Just as we were about to leave a woman approached us; she looked about Harry's age and had flaming red hair and deep brown eyes filled with malice. I automatically realized that this woman was no one to be taken lightly; she looked ready to pounce and kill. "So this is the thanks I get for waiting for you Harry? Three years and you shack up with some . . . some harlot! How old is she anyway, twelve!"

In my drunken stupor I didn't stop to think just what this situation really meant, or how serious it was either. "Now that's more like it! All this oh how old is she!? Shit was starting to get me a little down!" "Shut up you floozy!" Harry stood up shakily and grabbed the woman by the arm to lead her outside when it dawned on me just who this angry woman was.

"Wait a minute . . . you're Ginny Weasley aren't you!" Both Harry and Ginny stopped in their tracks and stared at me in surprise. Ginny worked her way out of Harry's grasp and stalked over to me until we were almost sharing the same breath; for once I was glad to be taller than another woman, I almost had to look down at her. "And just who are you to ask? So you know about all this?"

Drunken haze officially lifted, and at the most opportune time to become sober as a rock. I smirked at her and raised an eyebrow, just another jealous woman, it's not like I hadn't dealt with many of those before. "Who, little old me? I don't know a damn thing about what's going on here other than the fact that you're making a scene in the middle of a public place. Don't look at me like that I recognize you from the books lady. The only reason it took me so long to realize it was you was the fact that I always thought you'd be better looking, such a pity but amusing all the same."

Ginny's face turned about as bright red as her ridiculous hair and she let her mouth hang open as her brain racked for something to say; sick of waiting I brushed past her and faced Harry before I walked out the door "I'm going for a stroll, care to join me?" "Uhmmm yeah why not?" Before we crossed the threshold I stopped in my tracks; Harry looked at me questioningly but I raised my hand to silence him. Without turning around I said in a loud, condescending tone "And Ginny dear put the wand down, I would absolutely HATE to have to hurt you because you were unable to control yourself.

Harry turned around to see her stuffing her wand back into her robes haughtily and I just continued walking. Harry speed walked to catch up with me as I made my way blindly through the cobblestone streets. He put his hand on my shoulder and startled me from my reveries. "Hey I'm really sorry about that I didn't think she would still be so bitter about everything." "What do you mean?"

"Well Ginny and I have kind of a history together as sad as that is." "Oh well duh Harry. I thought you two were the super perfect couple though, what happened to till death do us part?" "Oh we were never married; together for a long time yes, but never married." "Did you have children?" "A little girl, yes. We had the wedding planned for right after she was born but the bitch wound up getting shit tanked drunk and spilled the beans that our little bundle of joy wasn't mine." "Wow, that's terrible." "Yes it was. I cancelled the wedding and kept her secret for her. I guess she's got a job teaching defense against the dark arts now at the school. I didn't think she'd still be so bitter. You've been here five minutes and you're already making enemies Ms. Benson."

"She said that she was waiting for you, what did that mean? Never mind actually, it's none of my business." "No no no don't you worry your pretty little head over it. After all was said and done I told her that I would think about taking her back if she just gave me time to think, it was the only way she would leave me the fuck alone; I guess she took that literally, the stupid cow." I started giggling and noticed we were standing in front of the shrieking shack; the haze of alcohol returning now that a sober state of mind was no longer necessary. "And just what is so funny?"

"Everything's funny when you're drunk Harry. So this is the famed shrieking shack, huh?" "Yup, that it is." "So this is really . . . ?" "Oh yes, and so much more." I walked behind the crumbling building and found a small clearing that must have served as the back yard at one point and time. Besides a couple of brambles it was mainly just long, soft grass that made for a comfortable place to plop down and avoid the awkward jelly legs that were inhibiting very much movement on my part. Harry sat down gracefully next to me and began to play with a loose strand of hair.

Looking into my eyes he whispered "Tell me your deepest secrets." I scooted closer to him until our noses were touching before I responded "Shut up." I toyed with him a little bit before passion overthrew better judgment and Harry and I began to roll around in the overgrown backyard in a war for dominance. The next morning I woke up without so much as a dry mouth; I never was prone to hangovers.

Harry on the other hand looked like shit left to bake in the sun. He groaned as the sun rose into his field of vision and murmured something as he tapped his head twice with his wand. Almost instantly his bloodshot eyes were replaced with clear and glassy ones and his entire demeanor changed back into the hyper, cocky Harry he had been the day before. I raised myself up and tried to drag him off the ground when he pulled me back on top of him and placed a tender kiss on my already bruised lips. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"Back to the inn; in case you hadn't noticed were laying half naked in the wild. Plus you have to pay up on a promise today." "And just what would that be?" like a cat I raised both myself and him and took off running back to the inn; Harry sluggishly followed until he caught up with me. As we parted ways to go back to each of our rooms he turned and called my name.

"Florence just what am I doing today?" "Taking me to find a unicorn of course Harry." I smiled even brighter at the defeated look of laziness on his face. "As you wish my lady." "That's what I thought! Now hurry up I'll meet you downstairs in thirty minutes, and that's being very generous!" All I got was a groan in reply.


	15. Chapter 15

Sooooo . . . this is the last entry that I am going to post for a while, to the tune of five months or so. i know this story sucks but i wrote it for a friend and decided to post it out of sheer boredom. It's not up to my usual par and I am so bored with it that i think when I get back i might just start a new story (after all ten weeks and then some for boot camp is a longgg time to have to yourself in your head : ) ) not that anyone is probably ever going to read this but i had fun on this site . . . a lot of fun so without further adieu chapter 15. see you in november!!

love,

Kelly

* * *

Harry and I stumbled through the forbidden forest in careless abandon with only minor scuffles with creatures my active imagination hadn't even had the creativity to dream up. Harry grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me to the side. Looking at him in surprise he said "Faerie ring, I highly doubt you want to dance until you die Florence."

A look of surprise washed over my face and Harry smiled at my reaction. "Come on there's a clearing up ahead a bit. If we're gonna find a unicorn the only sure place we'll find one will be there. I remember when I was a kid I had detention with Hagrid and we had to come here to gather unicorn hairs for Snape." As we stepped into the clearing Harry took a small package from his pocket and began to unwrap it.

Looking over I noticed they were apricots. "Apricots Harry? If you were hungry we could have gotten something to eat before we left." "No these are for the unicorns. For some reason they absolutely love these things." "Ohhh . . ." We sat down in the middle of the meadow and enjoyed the early morning sunlight until a rustle in the nearby bushes startled us.

Harry slowly drew his wand out of instinct and I whispered "Harry I don't think it's anything dangerous." Standing up I slowly began to walk towards the sound and almost fainted when I saw what the cause of the ruckus was. Suddenly a centaur burst from the brush with his bow drawn. He had long bright blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid thirties by human standards with crow's feet surrounding his eyes and slight wrinkles creasing his otherwise ethereal features.

The midsection of his body was cut off by a dark brown coat that covered the enviable musculature of a thorobred. I froze where I stood when I realized that this centaur had his weapon pointed right at me. Harry made to move forward but the creature's words rang crisp and clear through the air. "Stop Harry Potter." His gaze was unwavering as Harry's feet seemed to fail him.

"G- Gabriel?" "Yes Florence, I commend you on making the connection. At least the training I provided for you was beneficial." "Gabriel put the bow down please." "I'm sorry but I can't Florence; not until you state your reason for intruding upon my forest." I stooped down until I was on bended knee and replied. "Please forgive me Gabriel I came here in the hope of seeing a unicorn, childish I know but when Harry explained to me that there was a possibility I could encounter one I couldn't resist. If I had known any damage would be done I never would have come here, you know that."

The centaur replaced his bow around his shoulder and bowed in apology. "You have to understand, Florence that these are very trying times; the stars surrounding you are very unclear, even now. I always hoped for and feared the day that you would discover our world. Good luck to you in the coming years, I'm sorry to say that you'll need it. Good bye for now, my precious student. We will be meeting again soon I'm sure."

With that Gabriel bowed one last time in farewell and took off into the forest. Harry broke free of his stupor and ran over to me, holding me at arm's length he bombarded me with questions and accusations. Calmly I said "Harry if I told you everything about me I wouldn't be nearly as interesting as you make me out to be." And continued to take the bag of apricots in my hands, eat one, and plop back down on the ground.

"So . . . that was, erm . . . interesting." "Yeah, huh? Gabriel's a centaur; I never would have thought!" I lay back on my elbows and basked in the early afternoon light. "What do you mean? You two seemed to know each other pretty well; I've actually never seen a centaur show that much emotion before, you never cease to amaze." "Oh. Gabriel and I go way back; he's actually the reason I had to go on anti-psychotic drugs for a while."

"What!?" I smiled at the memories now running through my mind. "Oh yeah! It may be normal here to hear someone else's voice in your head but where I come from it's not exactly considered healthy. Gabriel helped me get to the point that I am now in my abilities. Before he came along strange things would happen around me all the time. He used to lead me in meditation and the like until I could control what I did with my 'gifts'.

He's the one that warned me when they started hunting me down and made sure I was ready when they finally came. He told me that I was special and explained as much as he could to me at the time. It's funny really I always thought he was an angel." "Whys that Florence?" "Well I'm not all that religious but in the bible the angel Gabriel was the messenger of god Harry. He's the one who told Christ that he was the son of god and informed him of his duties." I started giggling suddenly. "I guess it makes sense though." "Hmm?"

"That Gabriel would be my 'guardian' I am a Sagittarius after all." Harry started chuckling at this too. "I guess that does make sense then." "Mmhmm. Well, I don't think we're going to see a unicorn today Harry; we might as well get to the school and mill about a bit. I'd like to get acquainted with my other teachers." "If that's what you want to do . . ." I eyed him suspiciously

\ "And just what did you have in mind Harry?" Harry smiled wryly and winked at me. "You really are a pervert, you know that? Maybe I should leave you with Ginny and go back to living a normal life." Now it was my turn to smirk and wink as Harry's face fell into desperation. "No! Please don't do that, she's CRAZY!" Harry stood up from the ground and reached for my hand I took it and pulled him down on top of me, grabbed a tuft of his hair and kissed him as aggressively as I could.

Just when I had him where I wanted him I flipped the both of us over and stood up to leave. As we made our way out of the meadow I grabbed the last of the apricots and ran back to where we had just been rolling around in the grass. Carefully I placed them down and met Harry where he was waiting for me. Before I turned to leave I saw an iridescent horse canter to the apricots and bow its head towards us in thanks.

As it turned its head I saw the outline of a sparkling horn. I stood and watched in awe as the graceful creature ate the apricots in silence and refused to move until it returned to the place it had come from. "Wow . . ." "Yeah tell me about it. Why didn't you try to pet it like you dreamed of?" "Harry I'm no maiden; it probably would have run away if I'd tried to go anywhere near it." "Well, you'll always be a maiden to me Florence."

"Oh you're just saying that because you've been inside me Harry."


End file.
